


Music and Memories

by FishPrincess



Series: HSWC 2014 Bonus Round 4 [5]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Amnesia, F/M, Hospitals, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-26
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-03-03 17:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2858900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FishPrincess/pseuds/FishPrincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Identity Amnesia: Dave gets extremely injured in a freak accident, and Jade has to make him remember who he is. For HSWC Bonus Round 4. A response to a prompt by Dreamwidth user epicrainbowpanda.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Music and Memories

She can fall asleep anywhere.

In this room, she can close her eyes. Despite the worry that tightens her chest and sends her stomach into knots, her brain is begging to shut down. And as she rests her head against the arm of the chair next to Dave’s bed, as she closes her eyes, she cannot find sleep.

For once in her life, she cannot find sleep.

Because he is an asshole, she cannot rest. And she would rather stay awake to be here with him every step of the way, but part of her wants to blame him for being stupid. Although he is naturally intelligent, his amount of regard for his own life is upsettingly nonexistent. Leave it to him to learn parkour and overestimate his abilities. Dirk had been the one to see him fall past the open window, and if the trash wasn’t there to break his fall, he would have been nothing but roadkill.

It is a strange miracle to have him alive, but it is also a miracle well received.

The moment she hears a deep sigh, Jade lifts her head and leans forward, eyes wide behind her glasses in a hopeful gaze upon his bruised and battered face. Without his sunglasses, his pain is in full view. His eyes flutter open, and he stares at the ceiling before she hovers over him in an attentive matter. She wonders if she should get Dirk from the waiting room; he has been here just as long as Jade has. The only difference, she suspects, is that it is much easier for him to hold himself together in the waiting room. When Dave woke up, it was important to have a pretty face there, Dirk had told her.

“Did I just-“ he begins, his voice cracking despite not using his vocal chords for the past couple of days.

“Dave?” Jade asks, reaching over to grab his hand.

“What,” he says, as if it isn’t even a question. “Not to dis on any sweet chicks that come in to hold my hand, but who are you?”

Her heart freezes in her chest as she struggles to answer.

“I’m Jade,” she says with a chipper smile. “Your girlfriend.”

“Alert the media I’ve got a girlfriend, that’s pretty sweet. Are there any others?”

Jade snorts in response and rolls her eyes. “No, cool kid, just me.”

He clears his throat, flexing his fingers against hers, his half-lidded eyes remaining on her despite the lack of recognition. She can see in his face that she is a stranger to him, but she can also see the way his gaze shifts away from her and sticks to the other side of the room. Evasion tactics that give away how truly distressed he is.

The doctors told her there was a possibility he could never wake up, a possibility of paralysis, and a possibility of a drastic change in behavior due to head trauma. She is not prepared for this result, and although her head is spinning, she takes out her iPod and scrolls down to find a song entitled “Crystalanthemums” before pressing play.

“Setting the mood music, all right, I can deal with that.”

“Dave, do you recognize this at all?”

He looks at her quizzically. “Dave?”

It puts a twinge of pain in her heart, and the soft mix of the music takes away from the sharp silence.

“That’s you. That’s your name. Dave Strider.”

“Oh, OK, cool,” he says. Only a moment passes before he speaks again. “Hey, Jade?”

“Yeah?”

“I like this song.”


End file.
